


Here in This Room

by surlybobbies



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Roommates, Tinder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-01-19
Packaged: 2019-03-06 19:16:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13417884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surlybobbies/pseuds/surlybobbies
Summary: Dean discovers that Cas uses Tinder on Wednesday.  It’s an accident.  He wanted Cas to send him a picture, but Cas had mumbled something rude and gone right back to sleep on the couch - so Dean did what any roommate would do: he picked up Cas’s phone, inputted the password, and searched for the photo.That’s when it all went wrong, because that’s when Dean saw the app, nestled snugly between Instagram and the photo gallery.  Tinder.





	Here in This Room

**Author's Note:**

> It wrote itself. 
> 
> Rebloggable link downstairs.

Dean discovers that Cas uses Tinder on Wednesday. It’s an accident. He wanted Cas to send him a picture, but Cas had mumbled something rude and gone right back to sleep on the couch - so Dean did what any roommate would do: he picked up Cas’s phone, inputted the password, and searched for the photo.

That’s when it all went wrong, because that’s when Dean saw the app, nestled snugly between Instagram and the photo gallery. _Tinder_. 

Now the phone sits on the kitchen table, face-down where Dean placed it with wide eyes and trembling hands. It’s not that he’s upset that Cas is dating - it’s just that he’s upset that Cas isn’t dating _him._

So he sits down at the kitchen table and stares at the phone. Cas is still napping on the couch a few feet away, ignorant of Dean’s devastation.

When he does wake up, he sits up and squints at Dean. “Didn’t you have work?”

Dean tries to smile. “Nah,” he says, “Called in sick.”

That makes Cas’s eyebrows furrow even more. He gets up and walks toward Dean. “Are you feeling okay?” he asks, looking at Dean’s face far too closely. “You’re flushed.” He reaches out a hand to place against Dean’s forehead, but Dean dodges it. 

“I’m fine,” Dean says, “Just didn’t feel like talking to people.” He gets up from the kitchen table and opens the refrigerator. He can feel Cas’s eyes on him. “What do you want for dinner?” he asks.

Instead of answering, Cas says, as blunt as ever, “Why are you upset?”

Dean sighs and looks up, right into the picture of the two of them on the freezer door, held up by a magnet. In the picture, Dean’s arm is around Cas’s shoulders, Cas’s arm is around Dean’s waist - and they’re both leaning into each other. Dean’s head is thrown back in laughter, and Cas’s face is tipped up to look at him. He’s smiling. 

Dean always looked at this picture to remind him of what could be. Now it just taunts him. “I’m not upset,” he says, though the way he slams the fridge door closed belies his statement. He pulls out his phone from his pocket. “Pizza okay with you?” He doesn’t bother to wait for Cas’s reply because he’s a jackass. 

They wait for the pizza in silence. Dean tries to get comfortable on the couch as he channel-surfs, but he sees Cas swiping away on his phone to his left and that’s all he can think about: Cas on Tinder, swiping left and right and messaging people and sending them emojis of whales and sunflowers and - just, why couldn’t Cas be happy with Dean instead?

It’s only when Cas points out that Dean’s spent five minutes watching an infomercial for a magical cleavage-lifting bra that he shuts off the TV. He leans his head back and stares at the ceiling instead.

“I’m still waiting for you to tell me why you’re upset,” Cas says. He’s still staring at his phone.

“Maybe I’d tell you if you’d stop swiping right on that stupid dating app.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Cas finally lift his head. “Dean, I’m playing Candy Crush.”

Fuck. Dean closes his eyes in mortification, even though all he can see is the ceiling of their apartment. He feels the cushions shift, then there’s suddenly a hand on Dean’s arm.

“Are you upset with me for having Tinder on my phone?” Cas asks. He sounds almost amused. When Dean opens his eyes and looks toward him, he finds that Cas is also much closer than he was before.

“I mean,” he starts, “It’s dumb, Cas - you don’t need a dating app to get a date. Not you.”

Cas looks oddly pleased, but he still asks, “What do you mean?”

Dean shrugs. “You could walk out of this building right now and get a date within ten minutes if you tried, dude.” Then it occurs to him that maybe Cas is not using Tinder to get a date. He swallows hard. “Or a hookup.”

Cas is frowning. “Thank you for the compliment, Dean. I think. But that still doesn’t explain why you’re upset with me.” He leans in a little further and catches Dean’s eye. “I don’t believe that you’re this upset just because you don’t agree with the way I go about getting dates.”

Dean scrubs a hand over his face. He takes a deep breath. “Look, Cas, I’m just saying - you don’t need that app. You don’t even need to walk out of this building. You could find a date here.”

There’s a pause. Cas’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “In this room?”

Dean laughs, a little hysterically. “I’ve been throwing myself at you for years, dude, and you’ve never done anything about it - but I didn’t see you going out on dates...and I just thought - maybe he doesn’t have time to date or maybe it’s not the right time for anything to happen.” He shrugs and says into the air, turning away from Cas, “But then I find out you _have_ been dating, and that the reason you aren’t dating me is...me.”

There’s a knock at the door. Dean stands up; he feels a little shaken and he’s suddenly inexplicably exhausted, but the thought of pizza makes things a little more bearable. He answers the door and grabs the pizza, handing the delivery boy 20 bucks and shutting the door in his face.

“Pizza’s here,” he says stiffly to Cas, who is still on the couch, staring at the spot Dean was sitting in.

Dean doesn’t bother to grab a plate. He just sets the box down, grabs a beer from the fridge, pops it open, then settles down at the small dining table, facing away from Cas. He’s about to open the box when Cas’s fingers wrap around his wrist.

“Dean,” he says. His voice is miserable, and it takes all of Dean’s self-control not to look at him.

“What is it?”

Cas sits down next to him. “I’m sorry,” is all he says, looking at the table with a conflicted look on his face.

“I’ll get over it,” Dean says roughly. He pulls away from Cas’s grip and grabs a slice of pizza. He doesn’t like to eat in his room, but it seems he has no choice. He walks around Cas and moves toward his room. 

What he hears next, however, stops him in his tracks.

“Go out with me!”

Dean stops. Then spins on his heel. A piece of cheese falls from his pizza slice, but he ignores it. “...Sorry?”

Cas’s eyes are wide. He looks mortified. “I - I’m asking you on a date,” he says. “Like I’ve wanted to. For years.”

Dean can’t believe this is happening. He puts his free hand to his forehead. “Well, why didn’t you?”

“Why didn’t _you_?”

They stare at each other until Cas’s lip twitches. Then they’re both grinning, and Dean is striding forward, and Cas is standing up - and then they just stand there at their kitchen table, an open pizza box next to them and cheese falling steadily from the slice in Dean’s outstretched hand.

Cas’s smile has turned almost shy. “I don’t think I heard an answer to my question.”

Dean leans in, just a little bit, clutching at Cas’s waist. “Sounded more like an order to me, Cas.”

Cas frowns. “I apologize,” he says, sounding genuinely upset with himself. “I meant, ‘Would you like to go on a date with me?’”

Dean leans his forehead against Cas’s, grinning when he sees Cas’s lips twitch again. “Just one?” he asks.

Cas just laughs and pulls Dean closer. “As many as you want.”

Dean leans in to kiss him, soft and slow, the way they’ve always done things.

 

**Author's Note:**

> My cousin signed me up with an eCupid profile for Christmas... it didn't last. BUT whatever my own position on online dating, this fic was not meant to be a condemnation of it... Really, it's just a plot device. If it worked out for you, congratulations! It works sometimes - but it didn't work out for me, and in this case, it didn't work out for Cas. 
> 
> Rebloggable link [here](http://surlybobbies.tumblr.com/post/169693337786/deancas-13k-g-fluff-au).


End file.
